1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for producing digital images including metadata identifying subjects within the images and for subsequently distributing the images according to the metadata.
2. Summary of the Background Information
Conventional file formats for storing digital photographic images include, for each image, an image data section, in which the data used to develop pixels to be displayed or printed is stored, and a metadata section, in which digital data describing the camera or other device producing the image and the camera settings used to form the image. Thus, information automatically recorded in the metadata section can be used to reconstruct the conditions under which an image was taken. In addition, provisions are made to use data from the metadata section to facilitate locating individual images, with GPS coordinates being recorded by GPS-enabled cameras, so that images taken at a number of different locations can readily be searched, and with other locations within the metadata being provided for adding keywords using a file organization program such as Adobe® Bridge. What is needed is an effective method for allowing all photographs taken of a particular subject or individual to be accessed by searching digital photographic files for information stored within the metadata of individual images, allowing individual images to be located using conventional programs, such as Adobe Bridge.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is being increasingly used to identify subjects by means of tags emitting radio-frequency signals that are received by an interrogator that decodes the signals to form serial numbers associated with the subjects. For example, a number of turnpike authorities issue RFID tags that allow vehicles to which the tags are attached to drive past toll stations without stopping, with fees for the tolls being deducted from individual accounts associated with the tags. Since 1994, railroad freight cars in interchange service in North America have been equipped with Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) tags, which transmit data identifying each car to a trackside RFID interrogator.
An RFID tag may be passive, with all of the energy needed for operation of the tag being drawn from an RF signal broadcast by the interrogator, or active, with the tag including a battery to provide the energy needed for operation. Additionally the tag may be semi-passive, with energy from a battery being used to power certain logical functions, while energy from the RF signal broadcast by the interrogator being used to power communications from the tag to the interrogator.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2004/0201738A1 describes a system in which digital cameras are arranged at points of interest in a recreational venue to automatically photograph individuals participating in activities at such points in response to detection of identifying parameters uniquely to corresponding to respective individuals, such as respective radio frequency identification (RFID) tag code. The photographs are automatically transmitted for storage in a database from which they may be accessed for viewing or printing upon presentation and recognition of the identifying parameter. What is needed is a system allowing a photographer to arrange individuals for individual and group portraits, with the tag code information being made available for subsequent use in distributing photographic image data.
The complexity of an RFID system may be increased by needs to provide singulation and anti-collision capabilities in situations where multiple tags are expected to attempt to communicate with a single interrogator at once. Singulation, which provides for such communication in a serial, one at a time, basis, may be provided by the geometry of the area in which the interrogator operates. For example, automobiles proceeding by a toll station in a single lane at which an interrogator is aimed and railroad cars moving by a trackside interrogator naturally pass by the interrogator and communicate with it one at a time. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2004/0201738A1 describes a situation in which a number of skiers pass individually by an interrogator in a ski-lift line before a group portrait is taken, with individually recognized data being used to identify the individuals in the portrait. However, what is needed is a photographic system using an anti-collision procedure to allow people or subjects to be posed for a group portrait without requiring that the first pass single-file through a line to be individually identified. Such an anti-collision procedure would provide for the transmission of data from a number of tags in a sequential or otherwise multiplexed manner, so that the each of the RFID tags can individually communicate with the interrogator.
Many RFID systems are designed to identify an individual subject within a large number of similar subjects, with sufficient bits being provided within the data transmitted from the tag to identify, for example, any automobile within a state, or any freight car within North America. On the other hand, widely-used anti-theft systems use single-bit RFID tags that transmit data only indicating when an subject to which a tag is attached is within range of an interrogator. In this way, interrogators placed at each exit from a store are used to detect an attempt to remove an item having a tag that has not been deactivated from the store. What is needed is an anti-theft system having a capability of recognizing individual subjects within a number of similar subjects, with such a system providing information identifying a particular stolen subject.